The Beginning
by PKNight
Summary: My first attempt at a GG fic. I am a *huge* J/R fan, and this is a Jess/Rory fic. PG for just a *little* language. *Please* R/R!
1. A Civil Break

****

A/N: This is my first Gilmore Girls fanfic. I think the show is hilarious, and hope the writers don't sue me for the lame attempt at the wonderful dialogue on the show. I am not a big fan of Dean, but I've tried to make him a sympathetic character in the hopes that I won't get roasted alive by the Dean/Rory people or even the Tristen/Rory people that settle for Dean. This is a Jess/Rory story. I believe they're better for each other than Dean and Rory.

********** 

The day started out normally enough.

"Mom!"

"Yeah?" her mother called back blearily, closing a cabinet that didn't contain coffee.

"Have you seen my—"

"No."

"It's not—"

"Nope."

"But I swear I left it on the kitchen table!"

"Well, it's not there now. Calm down. You didn't leave it in your locker?"

There was a pause, and Lorelai looked up to see her daughter standing in her doorway with a horrified expression. "I did. What am I going to do? That's my bus book!"

"You have three bus books."

"Yes, but what if I want to read _that_ bus book?"

"You're just going to have to do without for one ride of your life."

"All right, fine," Rory said, and pouted for the rest of the day because she'd had to read the book of essays instead of the novel she'd wanted to.

She got off the bus that took her to and from Hartford and sighed with relief that it was a weekend. Surprised, she saw that Dean was waiting for her, sitting at the bus stop. Rory barely noticed that she no longer felt the little shock to her system when she saw him any more. She still felt happy when she saw him: he had the kind of "very tall puppy dog" type vibe. But it didn't, well, titillate her any more. 

"Rory!" he said, jumping off the bench, looking nervous. He gave her a quivering half-smile as she walked over and leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Hi!"

"Hi," she said hesitantly. "Why are we speaking in exclamation marks?"

"Um, 'cause we're excited?"

"Okay," she said.

"Hey, um, can we go somewhere. And…talk?"

"Ooh, lack of exclamation marks…Sure."

They walked to the gazebo in the middle of town, and Rory set down her bag. Dean sat down with a sigh, and immediately ran a hand through his hair. "Look, Rory," he said. "I know this is… Well, see it's like… There's no easy way to say this." He heaved a big sigh, and looked away. He couldn't bear to see the expression of hurt that would cover her face when he broke the news. "I, um, am breaking up with you."

Rory only blinked in response. After a few seconds she said, "What?"

"See, there's this girl at Star's Hollow High, and, uh, well…I kinda like her."

Rory nodded numbly. "I see. So you've gone out with her?"

He shook his head vehemently. "No! No, no, no," he added for emphasis. "I'm in a few classes with her, and we've got a lot in common. And, well, things haven't been as good lately. Between us."

"No," Rory said. "It really hasn't. So you wanted to make sure it was okay with me before you asked her out?"

Dean had the grace to look sheepish. "Um, yes?"

"I always knew you had integrity." Rory stood up, and shouldered her pack. Then she bent down and kissed his cheek, her hand on his shoulder. "I hope it works out for you. And we'll always be friends."

He looked so relieved she thought for a moment he might cry. "Rory, you're the best. I'm so glad you're not hurt."

Rory smiled, and turned to walk home. She felt…lighter, somehow. As if something had been weighing on her conscience for a while that she hadn't even noticed. She was nearly home before the thought struck her, "Why aren't I hurt? Why aren't I crying right now? My boyfriend of a year has just broken up with me to be with someone else." Because she was mulling it over, she looked worried when she entered the house.

"Don't tell me you're still moping about that book this morning," Lorelai said upon seeing her daughter's expression.

"Actually, I haven't thought about it since I left school."

Lorelai thought for a moment, then squinted at her offspring. "Then why the worry face?"

"Dean just broke up with me?"

"What?!" Lorelai grabbed her coat and opened the door. "I am going to hunt him down. I'm going to kill him, and have a great, big lynching. The whole town will help. It'll be a town holiday for years to come. The lynching of Dean who broke Rory's heart." She stopped when her daughter neither smiled nor frowned. "You…are heartbroken, aren't you?"

"I know I should be," Rory said, and flopped down onto the couch. "But I'm not. Why is that? Why aren't I devastated, brokenhearted, crying my eyes out, staying at the Heartbreak Hotel?"

Lorelai sat on the couch next to her, and hefted the backpack from behind Rory. "I don't know. But if you don't get rid of this you're going to be broken-backed. So, when did this happen?"

"Not ten minutes ago. He was there when I got off the bus. He said he had to talk to me and we went into the gazebo, and he was really nervous, then he just blurted out that he was breaking up with me because he wanted to ask this girl out who goes to Stars Hollow High, who he says he has a lot in common with, and that things weren't as good as they once were between us." Rory took a deep breath, then let it out. "What's wrong with me?"

"What's wrong with you? What's wrong with him? He tells you that he's going with someone else while he's breaking up with you?"

"But he hasn't gone with her. Not yet. He says he hasn't asked her out, wasn't going to until he could talk to me."

"Wasn't that decent of him."

"It was. There wasn't much left between us besides friendship, anyway. I'm glad he didn't, because I'm not sure I would have gotten the courage to."

Lorelai chewed her lip in thought. "You say there's nothing between you two but friendship now? When did that start happening?"

"I don't know," Rory said, throwing her hands up. "I just really started noticing it the past couple of months. I don't know how long it's been building up. Probably since after that first rush of 'ooh, I have a boyfriend!' We just…don't have enough in common."

"He's not really that smart." Lorelai was nothing if not brutally honest.

"I feel horrible for saying this, but yes. He's smart, but he doesn't like reading, and he doesn't like arguing about things. His music tastes are narrow, and he's uncomfortable with new things."

"So, basically, you started feeling like this when a certain Rebel Without A Cause came to town and started arguing with you about music, books, and challenging you to try new things."

Rory turned to her mother, wide-eyed. "What?"

Lorelai sighed, and patted her lap. Rory obediently turned and lay across her mother like she had for years when something was bother one or both of them. "What are you talking about, Mom?"

"This is about Jess."

"No," Rory said sharply. "It's not. He's just a friend. He's someone I like to argue with, that's all."

"And someone who's constantly keeping you on your toes, keeping your interest. I've seen the look on your face after you've just had a conversation with him. You look a little confused, a lot dazed, and happier. Even when he bought that picnic basket out from under Dean, you looked eager under that surprise and righteous indignation thing you had going on."

"Mom," Rory said, horrified. "You can't be serious. Do you know how much cajoling I had to do to get Dean to not go and kill Jess?"

"Probably about as much cajoling as I needed to convince Luke to buy my basket. They're a stubborn family, aren't they? But that's what's so fun about it. Cracking those shells they've got. Like when Luke finally did break down and bought the basket, he even brought actual food from the diner to eat, since the stuff in the basket was a total loss."

Rory nodded sympathetically. Then she laughed. "Did you know Jess actually ate some of what was in the basket before I could tell him it was a joke meal?"

"Wow," Lorelai said. "He must really like you." She nodded sagely. Rory sighed.

"Mom, why are you pushing this? You don't even like Jess. You think he's the worst thing to come to this town since decaffeinated coffee."

Lorelai gasped and clapped her hands over her ears. "Don't even say that word! Just the thought of…*that* kind of coffee makes me yawn. Yes, Jess and I got off on the wrong foot. But I didn't like Dean at first, either."

Rory nodded. Then she looked at her watch. "Oh, look at the time. We better get started to Grandma and Grandpa's house."

A surprisingly uneventful four hours later, Rory and Lorelai stumbled in through their front door, happy to be able to get some sleep. They said good night to each other and quickly went to bed.


	2. Saturday Morning Assumptions

A/N: Oh. My. God/dess! Okay, people reading GG fics are officially the best reviewers on FF.Net. Thank you all so much for your feedback. I love it, I thrive on it, give me more! Okay, there's going to be L/L in this story as well as R/J, which I didn't get to in the last chapter. See, this is where reviewing gets you! Thank you all so much again and again! Standard Disclaimers I own nothing, don't sue, I've got nothing, blah, blah, blah….

**********

The next morning they awoke around noon. Actually, Rory was up before then, but she made coffee and then went back to bed to read one of her favorite books _Catch 22_ for the millionth time. She was just hitting page two hundred when she heard her mother shuffling into the kitchen to get coffee. She stood and opened her door.

"Jess!" she said, surprised.

"Hey, Rory," he said.

"What are you doing here?"

"Your mom called sometime yesterday afternoon begging one of us to come and look at your toaster. She said it's burning one side of the bread and leaving the other side raw."

"It's always done that," Rory told him. "I don't know why she's complaining about it now."

"She probably just wanted Luke to come over so they could flirt some more."

"Huh." Rory said. "You've noticed that?"

"It's kind of hard to miss," Jess said, unplugging the toaster and sitting it down on the table. Then he sat down and opened it. "Arg!" he said, watching a disgusting mass of burned stuff fall out. "Don't you guys ever clean this thing out?"

Rory made a wordless gesture around her, indicating the house in its entirety. "We don't even clean the stuff we can see. You think we're going to go digging around the innards of a toaster?"

"Well, no. But you should." He dumped the mess onto a paper towel, and that paper towel into the garbage. Rory refilled her mug with coffee, then made one up for Lorelai. She crept up the stairs and opened her mother's door. Her mother was sprawled over her bed, barely covered by a blanket. She shook her head, thankful to have inherited her father's sleeping habits.

"Mom," she said in a sing-songey voice. "Hey, mom!" she set the mugs down on the dresser and sat on the bed next to Lorelai. She shook her, and Lorelai made a noise. "Ah," Rory murmured, "progress!" She shook Lorelai harder, until Lorelai almost flopped off the bed in her attempt to get away.

"Evil child," she intoned. "You better have something very good to save your life at this moment."

"Coffee," her daughter replied and handed her mother the mug.

"I have taught you well, grasshopper." Lorelai gulped greedily. "Hmm," she said. "It's not Luke's, but it'll hold me over."

"Gee, thanks," Rory said. "I made that myself."

"Well, I would say it's better thank Luke's, but that would be blasphemy, and a lie and you know it."

Rory nodded sagely. "Anyway, it's noon. I think we've had enough time to laze about in bed. How about we laze about on the couch and watch movies we can boo and make fun of?"

"Such as?"

"'Romey and Michelle's High School Reunion.' 'Can't Hardly Wait,' or, for that matter, anything with Jennifer Love Hewitt in it."

"Sounds good to me. Shall we go behind the Rory curtain, or just see what they've got in the actual store area."

"Kirk totally misunderstood what I was trying to say," Rory said, blushing. "Hey, there's a great Dane downstairs fixing our toaster."

"Really?" Lorelai perked right up. "Maybe I'll just go say hi to him." Lorelai unconsciously smoothed her hair and checked her teeth with her tongue. "Well, after I brush my teeth. Yuck, what was that Mom served us last night?"

"I think it had calamari in it."

"Isn't that—"

"Yup," Rory said, and had the satisfaction of hearing her mother's squeal of disgust, followed by her mad dash to the bathroom. Her work done for the morning, Rory went back downstairs to root through their cabinets and make a list of what they needed for a pig-out session.

Jess watched her dart around the kitchen in fascination. She apparently didn't know what a tempting picture she made in skimpy sleep clothes. But he definitely liked the shorts-and-tank-top combo she had on.

"So, you doing anything with Bag Boy today?" he asked in what he hoped was a casual manner.

Rory froze, and looked at him. "You mean it's not all over town?"

"What's not all over town?"

"Dean and I broke up yesterday," Rory explained while opening another cabinet. She didn't see the mix of emotions cross Jess' face.

Jess felt elation, fear, anger, and relief swamp him all at once. If Dean had hurt Rory…well, Jess didn't care how Frankenstein-ish Dean was, he'd kick his ass, that's all there was to it.

"So," he said, still trying to play it cool. "How do you feel about that?"

Rory shrugged. "Fine. We really aren't that suited to each other. He's a little too possessive for my tastes. Plus, he doesn't even know who Ayn Rand is, much less have a reason for disliking her work. And he calls Bjork 'That chick with the weird name.' I don't know why I stayed with him as long as I did."

Jess was full on grinning when Lorelai entered the kitchen. "Oh," she said, surprised to see Jess in her kitchen. "Hi." She glared at her daughter, who just gave a small smile in return.

Jess grunted in reply. "Jess was just telling me what's wrong with our toaster," Rory said promptingly.

"Uh," Jess said, "Yeah. Your heat control is off. It actually needs a replacement part. I'll just go and check with Luke. He might have a toaster not in use that I can take the part from. I'll be back." With that he left the house by the kitchen door, leaving the toaster in pieces on the table.

"Wow. He's chatty this morning."

"Yeah. And apparently the whole town doesn't know about Dean and I."

"Really? Thought for sure Luke would have him in a headlock by now."

"So how did Jess react when you told him you and Dean were over?"

"He just asked how I was about it, and then you came in. Beyond that, I didn't get a response."

Lorelai wasn't going to be the one to tell Rory about Jess' record-breaking grin. "You played a mean trick."

"How was I to know you'd assume it was Luke?" Rory pasted her best innocent expression on her face, hoping she wouldn't break down and laugh hysterically.

"You knew I'd assume it was Luke. You were counting on the fact that I would assume it was Luke. You assumed that I would assume it was Luke and get all pretty and come down to weasel coffee out of him."

"You have coffee in your hand," Rory pointed out.

"Yes, but not quite Heaven in a Mug. It's close, but—"

"It's not quite there, yes, I know. Hey! Why don't we call the diner and ask Luke to send coffee back with Jess when he comes back to finish the toaster?"

Lorelai nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I'll go get the movies, you phone Jess."

"Or, we could have him pick up the movies," Rory said.

"My, my, my," Lorelai said grandly. "Aren't we the haute couture today? We have servants now, do we?"

"Uh-huh, Miss 'Put the Pom Poms On the Skates' Gilmore."

"Hmm, touché."

"Studying for the big French test next week?"

Lorelai aimed a sour look at her daughter and said, "Well, since the toaster's broken, what are we going to do for breakfast?"

"Oh, yeah." Rory tossed the pop tarts back into the cabinet. "I think we actually have to leave the house."

"The horror," Lorelai gasped.

"Well, let's go." She stopped and looked at her mother, waiting for her to move. "I know you're slow to get moving in the morning, Mom, but you've had a least a little coffee."

"You do realize you're not dressed, right? Personally, if I was going out in my PJs I'd prefer one of those long-sleeved patterned dealies. But, hey, if you want to walk around Star's Hollow like that—"

"You mean I was dressed like this when Jess was here?" Rory's face flamed red, and she ran into her room, frantically searching for something clean to wear. "Argh! I can't believe I was that stupid! Of course I was still wearing my PJs. I woke up, got coffee, read, and then opened the door when I thought I heard you walking around but it was Jess! I am so…argh!"

"Why the flip-out, daughter mine?" Lorelai asked. "Could it be because you like Jess and wanted to look good for him?"

"They're my _sleeping clothes_," Rory shouted. "They're private. They're for sleeping in only, not for entertaining my friends." She threw her hands in up surrender. "Fine! Jeans and a T-shirt it is, then.

"Oh," Lorelai cooed. "But don't you want to look pretty for Jess-y-poo?"

Rather than dignify the disgusting comment with a reply, Rory sent her mother a withering look, pushed her back towards the kitchen and slammed her door to change. She really needed something to eat.

**********

A/N2: Okay, another suckey place to end. But I promise there'll be more coming, just as soon as I decide which way to go with this, not wanting to copy any of the remarkable other J/R fics I've read here lately. Thanks forever for the reviews.


	3. Not Too Long To Wait

A/N: Standard Disclaimer. Please, please, please review! I found out I thrive on reviews! Thank you so, so, so, so much to the people that wrote reviews! You don't know what it means to me that people who have no personal ties to me at all like my writing! And, thanks to those that feel I've stayed true to the characters. My biggest fear about writing fanfics is that I'm going to warp the characters beyond repair. 

I've also found out how people get to write those twenty-five-plus chapter fics! Not that this is going to be one of those, since this is the end of this one. I promise there is a sequel! Okay, on with the story!

**********

They tromped into Luke's on their way home from the video store. They'd rented the two movies Rory had named, and rented a third for good measure.

To their shock, everyone in the establishment stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at Rory, some with sympathy, others with humor.

"I guess they heard," Rory murmured to her mother, moving resolutely through the crowd. She sat on a free seat at the counter, and slapped it. "Barkeep!" she hollered. "Two cafés, and make them snappy!"

"Taking a page from the Book of Lorelai?" Jess asked rhetorically, obliging her with a quick mug of coffee. "You know, I could have brought you guys some coffee when I came back."

"Yes, but you're in the middle of surgery on the toaster. We had no way of making breakfast without it," Lorelai said, sitting next to Rory and grinning at Jess. "Hey, she did say 'two coffees' right? Or was that my hearing acting up?"

"Too much wax," Jess agreed. He waited for a moment before getting Lorelai a mug also and pouring her a cup.

"Are you giving them coffee?" Luke said in a resigned tone.

"Well, it's either that, or listen to them complaining. Tell me which you'd rather," Jess added, grinning at his uncle.

"You're awfully cheery this morning," Luke said suspiciously, eyeing his nephew up and down, looking for the catch that would release the sullen, silent Jess.

"Yes, and a cheery waiter makes for happier, better-tipping customers," Lorelai jumped in. She knew why Jess was so happy, and sympathized. She was heartened by the fact that he hadn't immediately jumped at Rory when he found out she was no longer attached. 

Over the last few months, Lorelai had watched Jess when he didn't know it. She'd seen the sincerity in his expression when he was nice to Rory and the hurt he felt every time she wasn't available to argue because Dean wanted to do something. Lorelai still didn't exactly adore the fact that her daughter seemed to be getting attached to someone who reminded her of all the Bad Boys in all the movies she'd ever seen, but she was realizing that Jess was changing for the better. He was no longer the sullen kid who had so alienated her when he first got here. Because of Luke's steady hand, and quite possible Rory's simple innocence and goodness, he was becoming a person she could like.

He had depth. And he adored Rory. Those were major points in his favor in Lorelai's opinion.

She snapped back to the present when Miss Patty came up to Rory. "I was so sorry to hear about you and Dean, darling," she said sympathetically. "I can still remember my first break up, and if you ever want to talk, I'm here for you."

"Thank you, Miss Patty," Rory said, smiling. "Really. But I'm okay. I was expecting this. I don't think I could have gotten up the courage to do it myself, so I'm grateful he did."

"That's all right, dear," Miss Patty said, tapping Rory's cheek. "You don't have to put on a stoic front for me. I'll be here if you ever want to talk."

She turned and left Rory blinking. "She didn't believe me?" she demanded after a moment, whirling on her stool to face her mother. Lorelai began to laugh. "It's not funny! Why would I lie about that? Why would I lie about anything? Stop laughing!"

Lorelai did, but was still grinning as her daughter ordered pancakes. "I stopped serving breakfast a half-hour ago," Luke said. "Order something from the lunch menu."

"Aw," Lorelai whined, her grin disappearing. "But it's not a weekend until we get our pancakes from you. Please? Can't you make an exception?"

"No," Luke said.

Jess grinned from behind Luke and nodded. He knew his uncle would fold, and moved to turn on the stovetop to warm it up. Rory watched him go to the back room, interested in spite of herself. Then she listened to her mother and Luke making a bargain. Lorelai wouldn't ask for more than five cups of coffee today if Luke made them pancakes.

Luke walked into the kitchen, muttering to himself about having no backbone, only to find Jess already ladling pancake batter onto the stove.

"What are you doing?" Luke roared.

Jess merely smirked. "Helping you. Come on. We both knew you would give in. You always give in to those two. You can't help it." The smirk turned into a knowing smile as Luke began to flush slightly. "Thought I'd save you some time and warm up the griddle for you."

"Yeah?" Luke demanded. "And why are you so happy this morning? Why are you so helpful? Look at you, you're actually smiling!"

"So?" Jess said. "I'm having a good morning. But don't worry. Something should go wrong by the end of the day and I'll be back to my surly old self. But, hey, good news. The nicotine cravings are almost gone."

Luke smiled for the first time that morning at his nephew. "Really? That's good. Here," he added, taking the spatula out of Jess' hands. "Let me take over."

"No problem, Uncle Luke," Jess said. He moved towards the door to the diner, eager to go back out and talk with Rory, and even—to some extent—Lorelai.

Luke sighed, and then bolstered his courage. "Uh, Jess? Hold on a second." Jess stopped and turned to face his uncle. "Look, I know why you're so happy. But, can you do me a favor? Just wait." Jess began to scowl at Luke, unhappy that he had guessed his motives so quickly.

"What, you want me to wait as long as you have? Nothing doing."

Luke winced at that. "No, definitely not that long. Just a couple weeks. Give her time to not be part of a couple any more. Let her see that you like her, and that you're not just going after her to piss Dean off." Jess turned, but stopped when Luke added, "Hey. She's worth it, right?"

Jess sneered as he entered the diner again. But as he listened to Rory and Lorelai's conversation, he realized Luke was right. *Damn him anyway,* Jess thought darkly. Rory was wondering what to do with herself now that she didn't have to make Dean happy with stuff she didn't want to do. She was looking forward to catching up on her reading, browsing the used CDs, and hanging out with Lane and Lorelai.

*I'll just give her a month,* Jess thought. *That's not so long to wait.*

A/N: Okay, no flames. I have no personal experience with relationships (well, besides media--books, TV, music…) but I figure Rory's got to have some "Rory Time" to figure out what she wants, blah, blah, blah! I promise there's lots more 'shippy stuff to come, for both L/L fans and R/J fans (or the ones I am slowly converting to R/J! (Cue evil laughter!) erm…I'm okay now. Thanks!


End file.
